Everett James Kirkwood

He has FINALLY arrived! And he is PERFECT!

Everett James Kirkwood

January 12, 2010

at 10:17 pm

9lbs 2 oz

20.5 inches long

I had a doctor appointment at 3:30pm on 1/12. I didn't feel particularly different. Had the usual swollen ankles from being on my feet, tired just from being pregnant, and an annoying little headache above my right eye like the type you get when you have a sinus cold. I was very surprised then when the nurse who was taking my blood pressure said, you are going to have this baby tonight! WHAT? Apparently my blood pressure was 130/96. UGH! She said my doctor would not let me go home and was likely going to send me up this evening. I wasn't buying it.

Dr. came in and the first words are, do you have your bags with you? I said no but we could go home and get them. She said, Jim can go home, but you need to get upstairs immediately. She then went on to say how she believes I have pre-eclampsia. She also verified I was at 4cm, 80% effaced, and that the baby was so low she just can't believe I haven't had him/her yet!

So we went up to get checked in and made all the calls to family. Everyone was already on their way here since I was supposed to be induced on the 13th. We had our friends Kim/Jerome/Emma get Josh from school and watch him until Jim's parents arrived. Jim ran home to get our things while I got hooked up to all the monitors and drilled with questions about the upcoming delivery, seriously don't know how anyone can answer all of them when they are in full blown labor, and what is the point of the "birth plan" if they aren't going to read it?

After a mega dose of penecillin the doctor broke my water about 6:45pm. We walked the halls as much as we could to get contractions going, but they continued to do the same thing... although we got them down to 4 minutes apart when walking, as soon as we got back to the room they slowed back down. At this point my lab work had confirmed I did have pre-eclampsia and I was now stuck in bed and given magnesium sulfate which helps prevent seizures. I will admit that this is when I started to get a little concerned but overall was still feeling good.

Sometime around 9pm things started really moving although contractions were WEIRD. Have a ridiculous one for about 3 minutes and then nothing for 5-10. The nurse and doctor weren't sure what was going on, but everyone of the contractions was making things progress, so that is what mattered. Finally - it was time for Everett to be born. 5 minutes of pushing and we had a BIG beautiful baby boy on my chest! It was UNBELIEVABLE!

I had a lot of mixed emotions going into this and wasn't quite sure if I could possibly have that same overwhelmingly in love feeling that I had the moment I met Josh. But it happened. I cried, he cried, I cried more, then yelled - YOU ARE A HUGE BABY!

My doctor was equally shocked because apparently she was concerned he/she would be small. Some other interesting facts, the placenta was 6lbs! And the cord was very thick, hearty, and a perfect spiral. No wonder he didn't want to come out. He was eating like a king!